I am humbled and honored to be re-elected to serve as your mayor of the great city of Baytown. I am committed to a Better Baytown, and, as I wrote for the Baytown Sun, wanted to share how the city team is progressing toward that goal.
As part of a six-week series – One City, One Baytown, I will outline a few major projects and initiatives that are likely on your mind, and how we’re working to be the best stewards of your hard-earned tax dollars. I will use the Sun column to shed light on issues that may be unclear, and will share my heart on issues that I am passionate about.
I know you are passionate about Baytown as well. As evidence from the hundreds of responses we received to the 2021 Community Survey, we know you care about this community. We heard some positive feedback about things your local government is doing well, and we heard some ways we can improve your quality of life and our city services. Our parks, recreation and aquatic facilities, and recreation programming continue to outscore the rest of the state and nation. For example, the satisfaction rating for the city’s special events is 66%, while the national average rating is only 39%.
However, we have more work to do in order to raise your level of satisfaction with the city. The top four areas the city needs to focus on is traffic congestion, street maintenance, flood prevention, and code enforcement.
The complete 2021 Community Survey final report will be presented at the regularly scheduled city council meeting on Thursday, December 9. For a sneak peek, you are welcome to read the entire report, which can now be found on the new Accountability and Transparency section of our official city website, at www.baytown.org/825 (or at least browse the Executive Summary).
In speaking with citizens recently a project some of our residents are passionate about is bringing the USS Texas battleship to Baytown, and I continue to look for viable ways of making that happen. You’ll often hear me say that government, alone, cannot solve all our problems, and the battleship effort is a prime example of how community partners and the city can work together towards bringing this national treasure to Bayland Island. The decision of where the battleship will be placed is entirely up to the Battleship Foundation. Our next steps should include appointing two council members to serve on the Bring the Battleship to Baytown committee, a council resolution officially expressing the city’s interests in bringing the battleship to Baytown, and creating detailed cost estimates for placement and ongoing financial obligations to our citizens. I am in full support of the effort and hope that progress can be made in the coming weeks.
Over the next few weeks, as part of this series, I will address the mall, the new hotel and convention center on Bayland Island, the upcoming Garth Road reconstruction, new facilities likes the Public Safety Complex and Animal Services Building, and how we are putting your tax dollars to work. As always, you can send me feedback at mayor@baytown.org. My door is always open to ideas for making a Better Baytown together.